Basel Player | Terence Koh

Terence Koh, the multi-media artist and fashion-obsessed provocateur, appears in the Originals gallery in T’s Holiday issue. He tells us, “You should go bankrupt for what you love; for art, for fashion, for everything.” That’s some dangerous advice to be doling out — especially during gift-giving season — but we agree. The Moment caught up with the art-world extremist by email post-Art Basel Miami Beach and discussed what made this year’s fair extra-special, the psychology of fashion victims and strategies for surviving South Beach.

What were you hoping to achieve going down to Miami Basel?

To make lots of money and have lots of great sex. (Not with my boyfriend; he came down two days after me.)

Do you think Miami Basel is about the art or the parties?

Art is a party. Why bother otherwise?

Was this year’s fair different from previous years?

Yes, it was definitely different, cause I made much more filthy money than last year, so I got more drunk and more drugged. So, indeed there was a different mood in the air. The air was crisper, the sea was saltier, the seagulls prettier. Most importantly, the bougainvilleas were a deeper shade of pink.

Andy Warhol once said that that all art is eventually “going to become fashion art.” Do you think that the art circuit has become too fashionable?

All of my friends are fashion victims. You can’t hope to succeed in New York unless you are a fashion victim. But what is wrong with being a victim? I have never understood why it’s bad to be a fashion victim. Andy Warhol was a victim. Basquiat. Yoko. You name it. Even Mary Boone told me Joseph Beuys wore designer. It’s how you put it. How you walk it. But you are still a victim, because fashion is about being in power, and you can be no less than subservient to it.

What was your favorite party or thing you saw while you were down there?

The launch of Daddy Magazine that I co-hosted with Javier Peres and Aron was my favorite. I am the hostess with the mostest. We threw it at a strip club, and we had three grand in one-dollar bills that we handed to our friends to give to the dancers. I didn’t remember anything the next day except for the stains. Did I also say I am the Naomi Campbell of the art world?